(Saint) VirginMartyr (September 23) (1st century) One of the most celebrated of the Saints of the Early Church. Saint Epiphanius and others relate that she was converted at Iconium in Lycaonia by SaintPaul when preaching there (Acts 14); and it would appear that she afterwards attached herself to the service of the Apostle, attending him on several of his missionary journeys. Saint Thecla died before the close of the first century, having, it is believed, spent her last years in religious seclusion. She had suffered much for Christ, especially on three occasions, her being cast to the wild beasts in the Amphitheatre, her being thrown into a furnace of fire, and her being cast out literally destitute by her heathen parents and kinsfolk. To these sufferings, equivalent, taken together, to a martyrdom, Holy Church makes reference in her Prayers for the Dying. Almighty God helped Saint Thecla many times by miraculous interpositions; but a number of fabulous accretions afterwards found their way into her Acts, which have therefore been censured by the Popes and Fathers.